Had a great opener for spring turkey. Myself, fellow TBH’rs JKK831 and Milkfisher, Milkfisher Sr (Dub) hunted my family place in NE Coleman cty. We managed a collective 2 mature gobblers, one of which was the 1st for Jerrod (JKK831). Along side the success was a great deal of frustration too as the birds didn’t follow the rules. We scouted Friday evening just before dark and put a gobbler to bed and felt confident we knew the general vicinity.
Early morning light brought an amazing surprise as we had Gobblers erupting all around us. We listened to no less that 8 gobblers scattered about our 320 ac. Jerrod and I had set and I was doing the calling. We immediately called in a young jake that strutted at 20 or so yards from Jerrod. Unfortunately Jerrod was in a bad spot that gave him limited visibility and he never got a shot. That bird was followed up by a brief arrival of a mature tom, followed by 2 stealthy jakes that snuck in on my 6. We finished up the morning with 2 mature Toms approaching us from the road, as they poked their head over the rise, I leveled the lead bird.
This bird was in the 18-22 lb range, 5/8’ spurs and hard to tell what his beard measured because half of it fell out when I touched it, guess I shot it off!!!!! We decided this bird may have been on the downhill slope of life.
We heard almost no more gobbling during the middle part of the day. And took a brief break later afternoon and regrouped for the evening hunt. We decided that in the area of feeders would be a good place to sit late afternoon and then position ourselves for listening for roosts at sunset. I called in a lone hen who busted me when I turned to look at her. She was followed by a silent mature tom who was too close to me for Jerrod to take the shot. Finally, after an hour plus of intermitten calling, we were approached by 4 hens who were pulling a tending gobbler in. He gobbled once at my yelps, but came in range and Jerrod smacked him.
This is the face of a proud turkey hunter!!!!
That bird weighed a hefty 25 lbs (and felt every ounce of it on the way out of the field), had an 8” or so beard and 7/8” spurs. Good mature tom, and heck-of-a 1st bird for Jerrod.
Sunday morning I was able to call in a mature tom for Milkfisher. The Gobbler avoided us early and strutted alone at the edge of a field, but I eventually coaxed him back in. Unfortunately the bird was 25 yrds from me, but 40+ from my shooter and in a bit of cover, so no shot. Again, bird just approached, never gobbled and we worked him for an hour or so….
What was frustrating and the theme for the weekend was that the birds gobbled their fool heads off while on the roost and shut their yaps once their toes touched the dirt. I have never called in as many birds in gun range as I did this weekend, all totaled was 9 Gobblers in shooting range (50 yds or less) 6 mature toms and only 3 jakes. Out of those 9 birds we heard maybe 4 gobbles I have always been a run & gun sort of turkey hunter, but I learned that it can pay to be patient and really sit a spot out, they don’t have to be gobbling to be coming.
All in all we had a great time. Experienced alot of birds, killed a pair. I kicked their butt's in "washers" and we ate like kings all weekend, plus the beer was cold.......
Early morning light brought an amazing surprise as we had Gobblers erupting all around us. We listened to no less that 8 gobblers scattered about our 320 ac. Jerrod and I had set and I was doing the calling. We immediately called in a young jake that strutted at 20 or so yards from Jerrod. Unfortunately Jerrod was in a bad spot that gave him limited visibility and he never got a shot. That bird was followed up by a brief arrival of a mature tom, followed by 2 stealthy jakes that snuck in on my 6. We finished up the morning with 2 mature Toms approaching us from the road, as they poked their head over the rise, I leveled the lead bird.
This bird was in the 18-22 lb range, 5/8’ spurs and hard to tell what his beard measured because half of it fell out when I touched it, guess I shot it off!!!!! We decided this bird may have been on the downhill slope of life.
We heard almost no more gobbling during the middle part of the day. And took a brief break later afternoon and regrouped for the evening hunt. We decided that in the area of feeders would be a good place to sit late afternoon and then position ourselves for listening for roosts at sunset. I called in a lone hen who busted me when I turned to look at her. She was followed by a silent mature tom who was too close to me for Jerrod to take the shot. Finally, after an hour plus of intermitten calling, we were approached by 4 hens who were pulling a tending gobbler in. He gobbled once at my yelps, but came in range and Jerrod smacked him.
This is the face of a proud turkey hunter!!!!
That bird weighed a hefty 25 lbs (and felt every ounce of it on the way out of the field), had an 8” or so beard and 7/8” spurs. Good mature tom, and heck-of-a 1st bird for Jerrod.
Sunday morning I was able to call in a mature tom for Milkfisher. The Gobbler avoided us early and strutted alone at the edge of a field, but I eventually coaxed him back in. Unfortunately the bird was 25 yrds from me, but 40+ from my shooter and in a bit of cover, so no shot. Again, bird just approached, never gobbled and we worked him for an hour or so….
What was frustrating and the theme for the weekend was that the birds gobbled their fool heads off while on the roost and shut their yaps once their toes touched the dirt. I have never called in as many birds in gun range as I did this weekend, all totaled was 9 Gobblers in shooting range (50 yds or less) 6 mature toms and only 3 jakes. Out of those 9 birds we heard maybe 4 gobbles I have always been a run & gun sort of turkey hunter, but I learned that it can pay to be patient and really sit a spot out, they don’t have to be gobbling to be coming.
All in all we had a great time. Experienced alot of birds, killed a pair. I kicked their butt's in "washers" and we ate like kings all weekend, plus the beer was cold.......
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